{"id":19161,"date":"2025-03-23T13:13:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T14:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/?p=19161"},"modified":"2025-03-24T05:48:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T05:48:26","slug":"government-steps-in-to-save-south-africas-struggling-steel-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/builder\/government-steps-in-to-save-south-africas-struggling-steel-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Government steps in to save South Africa’s struggling steel industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post<\/a> was originally published on this site<\/a><\/p>

<\/p>\n

Tawanda Karombo <\/span><\/p>\n

The government is racing against time to avert the collapse of the steel industry, engaging major player ArcelorMittal South Africa (Amsa) in crucial negotiations aimed at sustaining its longs steel business.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amsa had decided that it was closing its longs steel manufacturing plants in Vereening and Newscastle by April this year, but said on Thursday that it was engaging the government and financiers \u201c<\/span>regarding funding and related matters to enable the deferral of the wind-down of the <\/span>l<\/span>ongs<\/span>\u201d<\/span> <\/span>b<\/span>usiness<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The company and government were also discussing steel industry issues that were affecting the viability of Amsa\u2019s operations, including an influx of cheap scrap and imports of cheaper steel as well as logistical constraints.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it was supportive of these measures. <\/span><\/p>\n

It said it was \u201cp<\/span>leased government is assisting ArcelorMittal South Africa keep its longs steel plant in Newcastle operational while a plan to make it sustainable\u201d was sought.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Amsa has previously blamed the government for not acting speedily to fix the operating environment constraints it was facing, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) has laid out financial interventions to ensure Amsa preserves its production capacity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the <\/span>Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)<\/span>, the dtic said the government <\/span>provided financial assistance of R380 million to Amsa <\/span>last month, This was in addition to <\/span>the R1 billion working capital facility extended by the IDC in June <\/span>last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, funding of about R417m has been approved for Amsa under the <\/span>Temporary Employee\/Employer Relief Scheme (TERS) to sustain 2<\/span> <\/span>982<\/span> of the company\u2019s <\/span>employees over the next 12 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>As a condition of this support, Amsa is required to participate in the Productivity SA turnaround and recovery programme.<\/span> <\/span>These interventions are not designed to provide direct financial relief to AMSA but are part of a broader strategy to protect South Africa’s steel industry and ensure the preservation of its industrial capacity<\/span>,\u201d said the dtic.<\/span><\/p>\n

The closure of Amsa\u2019s longs manufacturing plants would result in thousands of employees losing their jobs and many more in the value chain, pushing the country’s already high unemployment rate even higher. <\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s economy has been bleeding jobs across mining and manufacturing, with companies blaming Transnet for ore stockpiles and low production capacity due to challenges with freight rail and port operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) has kickstarted a review of the tariff structure for the steel industry and an investigation into the possible introduction of an import surveillance system for the sector.<\/span><\/p>\n

ITAC has invited input and representations from industry players as it pursues t<\/span>he potential discontinuation of <\/span>rebate on some steel products <\/span>due to their <\/span>unintended negative consequences in the domestic manufacturing industry<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is also looking at the <\/span>possible increase in the rate of customs duty to the respective World Trade Oraginsation bound<\/span> <\/span>rates,<\/span> as well as to determine t<\/span>he extent to which the challenges faced in relation to an influx of low-priced<\/span> <\/span>imports arising from global structural overcapacity constitutes an \u2018emergency\u2019<\/span> <\/span>situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

This would necessitate <\/span>emergency action<\/span>s such as \u201c<\/span>the suspension in whole or <\/span>part, or withdrawal or modification of any tariff concession, to the extent and for <\/span>such a time as may be necessary to prevent or remedy further<\/span>\u201d<\/span> harm.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Considering the worldwide steel production overcapacity, increased trade <\/span>protectionist measures implemented by some countries, and associated trade <\/span>diversions occurring globally, SA\u2019s steel value chains are facing serious <\/span>sustainability challenges, which are impacting negatively on the country\u2019s socio-<\/span>economic objectives<\/span>,\u201d noted ITAC.<\/span><\/p>\n

It further explained that p<\/span>ersistent local conditions of slow economic growth, depressed demand, energy<\/span> <\/span>and freight logistics challenges <\/span>were <\/span>further exacerbating <\/span>challenges faced by the local steel sector.<\/span><\/p>\n

BUSINESS REPORT<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tawanda Karombo The government is racing against time to avert the collapse of the steel industry, engaging major player ArcelorMittal South Africa (Amsa) in crucial negotiations aimed at sustaining its longs steel business.Amsa had decided that it was closing its longs steel manufacturing plants in Vereening and Newscastle by April this year, but said on Thursday that it was engaging the government and financiers \u201cregarding funding and related matters to enable the deferral of the wind-down of the\u00a0longs\u201d\u00a0business.The company and government were also discussing steel industry issues that were affecting the viability of Amsa\u2019s operations, including an influx of cheap scrap and imports of cheaper steel as well as logistical constraints.The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it was supportive of these measures. It said it was \u201cpleased government is assisting ArcelorMittal South Africa keep its longs steel plant in Newcastle operational while a plan to make it sustainable\u201d was sought.While Amsa has previously blamed the government for not acting speedily to fix the operating environment constraints it was facing, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) has laid out financial interventions to ensure Amsa preserves its production capacity.Through the\u00a0Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the dtic said the government\u00a0provided financial assistance of R380 million to Amsa last month, This was in addition to\u00a0the R1 billion working capital facility extended by the IDC in June\u00a0last year.Additionally, funding of about R417m has been approved for Amsa under the\u00a0Temporary Employee\/Employer Relief Scheme (TERS) to sustain 2\u00a0982\u00a0of the company\u2019s\u00a0employees over the next 12 months.\u201cAs a condition of this support, Amsa is required to participate in the Productivity SA turnaround and recovery programme.\u00a0These interventions are not designed to provide direct financial relief to AMSA but are part of a broader strategy to protect South Africa’s steel industry and ensure the preservation of its industrial capacity,\u201d said the dtic.The closure of Amsa\u2019s longs manufacturing plants would result in thousands of employees losing their jobs and many more in the value chain, pushing the country’s already high unemployment rate even higher. South Africa\u2019s economy has been bleeding jobs across mining and manufacturing, with companies blaming Transnet for ore stockpiles and low production capacity due to challenges with freight rail and port operations.At the same time, the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) has kickstarted a review of the tariff structure for the steel industry and an investigation into the possible introduction of an import surveillance system for the sector.ITAC has invited input and representations from industry players as it pursues the potential discontinuation of\u00a0rebate on some steel products\u00a0due to their\u00a0unintended negative consequences in the domestic manufacturing industry.It is also looking at the\u00a0possible increase in the rate of customs duty to the respective World Trade Oraginsation bound\u00a0rates,\u00a0as well as to determine the extent to which the challenges faced in relation to an influx of low-priced\u00a0imports arising from global structural overcapacity constitutes an \u2018emergency\u2019\u00a0situation.This would necessitate\u00a0emergency actions such as \u201cthe suspension in whole or part, or withdrawal or modification of any tariff concession, to the extent and for\u00a0such a time as may be necessary to prevent or remedy further\u201d\u00a0harm.\u201cConsidering the worldwide steel production overcapacity, increased trade\u00a0protectionist measures implemented by some countries, and associated trade\u00a0diversions occurring globally, SA\u2019s steel value chains are facing serious sustainability challenges, which are impacting negatively on the country\u2019s socio-economic objectives,\u201d noted ITAC.It further explained that persistent local conditions of slow economic growth, depressed demand, energy\u00a0and freight logistics challenges\u00a0were\u00a0further exacerbating\u00a0challenges faced by the local steel sector.BUSINESS REPORT<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-builder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19162,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19161\/revisions\/19162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}